The
Superior Hiking Trail is now up to 296 miles with another 5.9 miles
that will be added Natinal Trails Day in June. This means you can hike
from the Canadian border down the north shore of Lake Superior through
Duluth and Jay Cooke State Park to Highway 23. Trail still needs to be
built to the Wisconsin border to connect to the as yet built section of
the North Country National Scenic Trail. I am now the President of the
Star of the North Chapter of the North Country Trail.
The longest trail in the National Park Service System at about 4600
miles of which about 2000 miles is yet to be built. We're currently
waiting on Congress to approve of the rerouting of the trail up the
Superior Hiking Trail instead of building in through a large section of
boaring swamp land.

If you're intested in hiking in the Sierras you should consider
joining the John Muir Trail
group. When joining this link make sure to state
something about you're interest in the trail or you might
not get accepted. This is done to prevent people spamming the group.
If all you say is that a friend referred you to the group its
unlikely that you'll be accepted. I'm one of the moderators for the group.

The
above picture was taken Sept 2010 while helping put in the new Sucker
River Bridge for the Superior Hiking Trail. After completion of the
next section of trail in 2011 this part of the trail became a spur
trail. The bridge floated a short distance and tipped over in the
Duluth Floods in 2012. It couldn't float very far because all bridges
are cabled to a tree at one end for just this reason. Volunteers
dragged the bridge back into place.

If you're looking for something to do with your free time
how about volunteering to work on trails? The American
Hiking Society has a list of volunteer construction projects
in the United States.

Plantar Fasciitis

Got Plantar Fasciitis and worried
that it might cause a problem while backpacking? Personal Experience
tells me that you don't need to worry, and that it could be the
best thing you could do for it. On my hike to Pictured Rocks
National Seashore I met some people from an Ohio hiking club.
One of them told me that on the 3rd day out at Isle Royal National
Park that his Plantar Fasciitis stopped hurting much. On the
fourth day of my hike I realized that my Plantar Fasciitis wasn't
bothering me much either, and while it hasn't gone away since
then, its much better than it had been. Recently I found that
my shoes were part of the problem. They were worn a bit on the
outside of the heal. Just a bit was enough.

More on Plantar Fasciitis - I recently
pulled some old shoes out and after a few days my Plantar Faciitis
started bothering me again. It turns out the heal was worn slightly
on one side. I went through all my shoes and got rid of the old
ones. I haven't had a problem since.